1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a dental floss for use in cleaning unwanted matter present between adjacent teeth.
2. Description of the Related Art
Dental floss is a well known article used to promote dental hygiene by removing foreign matter from the interproximal area. Commercially available dental flosses are in the form of a thin strand made from strong inelastic materials. Such dental flosses are available in both waxed and unwaxed forms.
Typically, in use, a segment of the dental floss (strand) is stretched by both hands and passed between the crowns of adjacent teeth and stroked laterally by providing back and forth motion to remove the foreign matter from the interproximal surfaces (medial and distal surfaces) of adjacent teeth and the interproximal space. Such cleaning action requires a person to apply tensile force on the dental floss by applying significant pressure on the fingers, which can be quite discomforting. Additionally, the interproximal space can vary greatly and since each commercial dental floss is of nearly constant diameter, the same dental floss becomes difficult to use throughout the mouth. It is, therefore, desirable to have a single dental floss which can be used with ease between interproximal spaces of varying width without putting significant pressure on the hands.
Several other dental flosses have been proposed to provide better cleaning with greater comfort. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,789,858 discloses a dental floss in which two relatively inelastic strands are spun together. A thin strong strand is spun together with a relatively weak strand having spaced apart tufts to provide a relatively inelastic absorbent dental floss. Such a dental floss has a constant diameter and requires significant pressure to be put on the fingers during use.
Another type of dental floss is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,258, which contains a single strand made from multitudinous overlaid fibers of a yarn. Some of the fibers are joined to each other while the others are merely caught among other fiber. The finished product is a single strand soft dental floss which still requires great pressure on the hands during cleaning action.
The present invention addresses some of the problems associated with the commonly used dental flosses and provides a two-stranded dental floss which is easy to use and which can be adapted for use in interproximal spaces of different widths.